Alfa Pages

Brit01 · Gold Cloverleaf Joined: 24 May 2010 Posts: 665

8.3-8.9 kgs

with well lubricated threads/heads and washers. Wink

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S2 33 1988 1.7 QV
Dellorto DRLA40 (32mm venturi)

Brit01 · Gold Cloverleaf Joined: 24 May 2010 Posts: 665

fired her up yesterday!

Was a little scary.

New tappets rattled for a while then slowly quietened down after getting up to temperature.

First start up I flooded the engine, probably primed with too much fuel, left it for a few mins and then fired her up again and maintained her at 2500 rpm for about 12/14 mins. keeping an eye on all the connections/temp etc.

Manifold smoked like a chimney for about 4 minutes until all the old oil burnt off.

Next step, re-torque, warm her up, adjust carbs and check timing then first light drive.
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S2 33 1988 1.7 QV
Dellorto DRLA40 (32mm venturi)

paulhide · Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2011 6:45 pm Post subject:

Good luck.
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Brit01 · Gold Cloverleaf Joined: 24 May 2010 Posts: 665

Just tested the car around the blocks and not good results.

Hesitates like crazy and it goes very lean to 17/18 when I try to accelerate.

I increased the idle jets from 53 to 55 but still no change.

Pump jets are 33 and working fine.

Maybe I could adjust the height of the floats or increase the size of the pump jets to see if that improves the hesitation.

Before the rebuild I had pump jets 33 and idle jets 52/53 and it was always on the rich side, now it's gone very lean.

Can a rebuild make such a difference?

I think it may be too retarded - this is the first thing I'll check tomorrow.
I just can't imagine it being too lean with 55 jets.
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S2 33 1988 1.7 QV
Dellorto DRLA40 (32mm venturi)

Ian M · Posted: Fri Sep 09, 2011 7:55 am Post subject:

Have you checked the jets are clean?
I had a problem with muck in the system and it took about 6 or 8 times taking jets out and blowing them thru.
Only needs microscopic particles to effect it and you think it can't be that cos I've just sorted that out, but it is.
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Presntly own
Red Abarth 500c

paulhide · Posted: Fri Sep 09, 2011 2:03 pm Post subject:

Blocked jets would cause misfire.
Surely just a case of carb tuning, no?
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Brit01 · Gold Cloverleaf Joined: 24 May 2010 Posts: 665

Yes I guess your right. but worth checking anyway as I've had a blocked jet before and it didn't misfire, I just lost all power below 3000 rpm.

1) check timing belts at TDC
2) compression test
3) check all jets and passages as i had fitted some new fuel pipes
4) check float height - new floats, thinking maybe very floaty and causing a lean mixture and may need raising a mm or two.

I know the idle jets are not causing the lean mixture as I went from 52/52/55 and no difference.

Seems to be running out of steam(stumbling) when I accelerate and the AFR on the gauge shoots into the lean zone instead of the opposite due to the action of the pump jets which are working fine.

Idling fine at 13.1.

Crying or Very sad

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S2 33 1988 1.7 QV
Dellorto DRLA40 (32mm venturi)

Brit01 · Gold Cloverleaf Joined: 24 May 2010 Posts: 665

One thing I left out.

About 4 months ago I put the new floats in. Old one had a crack appearing, caught it before it leaked.

The old ones were at about 5.5 mm.

I set the new ones at the same height. The car stumbled and was leaner.
Obviously new floats were much more buoyant.

I set them to 4mm and ran much better.

But since this rebuild I put them back to the fact recommendation of 5/6mm.

After all important belt checks I will probably put the floats back to 4mm if all else looks ok.
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S2 33 1988 1.7 QV
Dellorto DRLA40 (32mm venturi)

Brit01 · Gold Cloverleaf Joined: 24 May 2010 Posts: 665

Results of compression Test. (heated engine of course - just a dry test also)

First checked the timing belts, all ok. Left as stated initially is just a fraction out, less than 1/4 tooth. Not much I can do about that without vernier pulleys.

180 psi on every cylinder.

This is with JUST 9 kms on the clock, not even broken in yet. Haven't had the chance the take it out and push it a little yet on the open road.

There was a little, just occasional back fire/spitting through the carbs while warming up but disappeared once it got up to temp. And the odd misfire when I let off the accelerator quickly.
Do I need to be concerned about this backfire/spitting?

I think with 180 psi the valves and rings are seating ok no?

Regards.
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S2 33 1988 1.7 QV
Dellorto DRLA40 (32mm venturi)

Brit01 · Gold Cloverleaf Joined: 24 May 2010 Posts: 665

Well all running smoothly now.

Will take it out for a good run this week.

The fault was such a silly assembly mistake of one of the carbs that I'm too ashamed to say what it was!
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S2 33 1988 1.7 QV
Dellorto DRLA40 (32mm venturi)

paulhide · Posted: Sun Sep 11, 2011 10:28 pm Post subject:

Vacuum advance pipe?
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Brit01 · Gold Cloverleaf Joined: 24 May 2010 Posts: 665

Nope.

Can you believe I put one of the main jets tubes that crosses the carb barrel the wrong way around?

So as the main jet kicked in nothing would come out as it was blocked.
Idled ok of course but when I wellied it it was running on 3 cylinders!!

duhh. well most parts were assembled in limited light!

Then an o-ring broke on the fuel attachment to the carb, leaked petrol and blocked the float valve.

All sorted now and ready for its first drive tomorrow to work. 60 km round trip.

Rolling Eyes

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S2 33 1988 1.7 QV
Dellorto DRLA40 (32mm venturi)

Brit01 · Gold Cloverleaf Joined: 24 May 2010 Posts: 665

30 km drive to work and all fine. Just slight adjustments to the carbs are required. Little rich on the mains and very tiny hesitation in 2nd but I'll sort that out.

Drove in light and slightly heavier bursts of acceleration in 2/3rd gear watching the temp. and listening for noises.

It was unavoidable to use 4th gear sometimes due to the traffic.

Arrived at work in one piece. Will give the engine a good check over at lunchtime.

Just to check is it normal for the oil to have a slightly grey colour maybe due to all the molykote paste I used on the bearings and cams?

(just keeping an eye on the level of coolant to make sure none is leaking through the head gasket) this would be a mayonnaise colour no?
Went down slightly initially but due to bubbles and filling up the heating system.
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S2 33 1988 1.7 QV
Dellorto DRLA40 (32mm venturi)

Ian M · Posted: Mon Sep 12, 2011 4:38 pm Post subject:

OOPS !!!

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Presntly own
Red Abarth 500c

Brit01 · Gold Cloverleaf Joined: 24 May 2010 Posts: 665

those weren't exactly the words I used in the garage when I saw the error!

Laughing

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S2 33 1988 1.7 QV
Dellorto DRLA40 (32mm venturi)

Ian M · Posted: Tue Sep 13, 2011 9:27 pm Post subject:

Well done for taking on such a job and completing it successfully.
Now go drive it and drive some more and enjoy it Cool

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Presntly own
Red Abarth 500c

Brit01 · Gold Cloverleaf Joined: 24 May 2010 Posts: 665

Thanks guys. Wink

100 kms done already. Oil changed this morning after 70 kms before coming to work.

Will change it again after 2-300 more kms to more expensive Motul for it's regular interval changes.

Just finely tuning the carbs and watching out for issues. Slight leaks of coolant in a place or 2. But just drops. Hopefully they will seal themselves.

Just paranoid now about tappet noises!! Confused

Great induction sound with the airbox bottom cut off and no noticeable difference in torque at lower revs.

Very very tiny flat spot but maybe because I have undersized pump jets.

Will get these enlarged to 35 jets.

Had to adjust the floats a little (those are very finicky), was running too rich on the 142 mains.

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S2 33 1988 1.7 QV
Dellorto DRLA40 (32mm venturi)

Brit01 · Gold Cloverleaf Joined: 24 May 2010 Posts: 665

Very bad news alfa friends.

same noise has returned, exactly the same place.

I don't get it. New cams. new tappets and the same ticking noise appears in the same place (piston 3).

The odds of the tappet failing in the same place are pretty slim.

What about the tappet housing? Could this be worn and it's knocking side to side?

Or a small end shell worn?

Can't believe this after all the hard work and effort.

What next?
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S2 33 1988 1.7 QV
Dellorto DRLA40 (32mm venturi)

baiones · Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2011 7:27 am Post subject:

Brit01 · Gold Cloverleaf Joined: 24 May 2010 Posts: 665

Oil pump has new gears and good pressure now.

Could a bent valve or guide damage a tappet?

This cylinder 3 always had a slightly lower compression.
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S2 33 1988 1.7 QV
Dellorto DRLA40 (32mm venturi)

RFlower · Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2011 12:09 pm Post subject:

I assume you had the workshop check the valves (for damage or bending) and you also cleaned out all the oil passages before reassembly, as suggested in my post of June 9th.

It is very frustrating not having access to the tappets on this wonderful Alfa design. A sticking valve (tight in guide or slightly bent) could cause tappet noise, but I'm sure a decent workshop would have examined the valves and guides carefully.

Does the noise get better or worse when revs are increased? If a valve were sticking slightly I would expect any noise to be less or non-existent at idle

Was there any play on the little ends when you reassembled them?
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Dick Flower, Nr. Carcassonne. '94 Trofeo 1.4 ie (F), '93 Imola 1.3/1.4 ie (now for breaking) (F), '91 1.7 ie (GB)(spare car), '86 Sprint 1.5 QV (F). '87 VW Syncro camper (F), '73 NSU Ro80 (F), '99 Fiat Seicento (F)

Brit01 · Gold Cloverleaf Joined: 24 May 2010 Posts: 665

Brit01 · Gold Cloverleaf Joined: 24 May 2010 Posts: 665

Going through the whole process of how I rebuilt the engine I am suspecting the most likely culprit of the ticking is a loose tappet.

The housing/sleeve I believe needs to be checked and possibly rebuilt.

New cams/tappets/etc. Spotless engine.
Then a new tappet starts making exactly the same noise near the filter, cylinder 3 in the same bucket.

We're thinking the housing got worn previously and when gets very hot starts becoming loose due to expanding alloy sleeve.

Can't think of any other reasonable causes.

Will probably whip off the right head and inspect/measure this bucket and have a new sleeve made for it.
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S2 33 1988 1.7 QV
Dellorto DRLA40 (32mm venturi)

Brit01 · Gold Cloverleaf Joined: 24 May 2010 Posts: 665

Head off. Tappets and lobes fine.

Maybe the bucket sleeve is worn down, that's the only thing I can think of now.

I've found a supplier of NOS cam supports in Buenos Aires.

250 USD.

Very very tempted.

Rolling Eyes

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S2 33 1988 1.7 QV
Dellorto DRLA40 (32mm venturi)